I think the main reason the community commented so harshly was because they were ill informed.
ALOT more devlog posts is a great idea, also more communication between Dev team members sounds like a good idea.
(PS,Data, i love how you can drag the skirmish selection boxes around )

Look Dan, point is, we're pissed off now, but try and rectify the situation, come around the forums more often, communicate with your community, and stop giving us excuses, and we'll take you right back.

Don't be a stranger.

yo Data just to let you know a quick screenshot in VS of a few important new lines or a small console output of what you've just updated is always a good thing to inform the community you've actually done things behind the scenes and is totally enough to constitute a dev log post. they do not need to be content rich or new features only.

Dauss summed it up.

Don't be one of those RE4 merchants who calls everyone "STRANGAHS"

That's totally creepy and unprofessional.

Oh, I am a very lazy person, and am happy to admit it! Also, I'm afraid no one has a right to demand otherwise.. if you bought the game, you should have noticed the big disclaimer in red about why it is discounted; it says explicitly that there is NO promise of it ever being finished, or when another version will come out. If this somehow wasn't clear enough, you are welcome to ask for a refund through the payment processor, and it will be promptly granted. You are, however, not welcome to make demands and try to guilt me into "working harder for you" because I happen to make a living off the earnings of my project. What I do with my time and money is none of your beeswax, guys

- D

And so it was that the DRL community fell apart.

I'm sure I shouldn't respect that, but I can't help it.
I utterly sympathize with you Data, for I am exactly the same.

It's not about whether we have the right, it's about what you SHOULD have done/be doing. Yes, you're perfectly within your rights to stop development or work at a snail's pace. I am also perfectly within my rights to burn hundred dollar bills in front of homeless people. You're basically saying "Well, I have your money, so I don't have to give a ♥♥♥♥ about what you think!". You're a lazy, entitled cheat, Dan, and unapologetic to boot. There was no promise, but we had faith that you wouldn't take our money and run. You've done exactly that.

Just ask for your refund already, then.

(also LOL Dauss)

I think we can all take a page from Machiavelli's sayings in this sentence.

Discounted and discontinued aren't the same word.

went the last shred of data's credibility. I am flabbergasted.

Personally, I think Data's done alright. I try to do these long projects and I lose interest quickly. I'm just grateful that Cortex Command exists as it is now, in all its pixelly physicsy fun and glory.

I've actually completely forgotten how to release an update to CorTool through Sparkle. I could probably learn again, however my thread is buried so it's not like anyone cares

Well that was certainly something completely unexpected.

Nobody likes having a ♥♥♥♥ wagged around in their face. Too bad you don't know that. Applying that bit of knowledge would probably make the community loathe you less.

Legal obligations aside, you're essentially saying that you don't care about the community? "You guys gave me money for a game I made and that's cool but you shouldn't expect anything from me, I didn't make any promises and I'm not actually responsible for anything if you look in the fine print trolololol." If you can't see the ethical ramifications behind that, you have a major issue. The strongest asset of any indie developer is their fanbase. Keeping it pleased is probably a good idea. You probably would have stopped working on this ages ago if there wasn't a forum filled with people trying to draw in paying customers. We don't exactly keep it a secret or try to scare people away. I know I've personally drawn in at least 10 guys who bought the game, and god knows how many people they each got to buy the game.

Nobody's expecting you to release an optimized version of CC with beautiful graphics and a rescripted engine; however, after 18 months, we would have expected something more than the minor updates we've gotten. Nobody's expecting you to get down on your knees and thank everyone in the forums for whatever minor advertisement they've done and for the support they've given; however, after you've spent years coding this game and supporting these forums, we would have expected something more than "Hey guys, here's something that I wasn't even intending to release yet, I just wanted the money. Deal with it." Nobody's expecting you, now that B24 is somewhat of a disappointment, to go and start working on CC 24/7 and to release a new build every other week.

What we expect is a modicum of respect and gratefulness. A producer is nothing without consumers. You're not exactly pissing on our mothers' graves at the moment, but what you're basically doing (in the eyes of the forum at least) is, at best, ignoring us entirely because you only remember that we exist every now and then, and at worst, regarding us apathetically and without any interest whatsoever because you could frankly care more about clipping your toenails.

EDIT: In the time it took me to write this, 9 other people replied. There are a lot of people who care about this forum, the game, and subsequently the developers behind it. I don't think you see us as anything more than a source of income- which is sickening, since I frequent a lot of other indie dev sites and none of them have ever acted like this.

Hm. Now that I think about it, DaTa has never really been so blatant about his apathy, either.

NEW THEORY -> DaTa has been replaced by an evil clone.